Abiotic and biotic drivers of functional diversity and functional composition of bird and bat assemblages along a tropical elevation gradient. Issue 12 (4th September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Byamungu, Robert Modest; Schleuning, Matthias; Ferger, Stefan W.; Helbig‐Bonitz, Maria; Hemp, Andreas; Neu, Alexander; Vogeler, Anna; Böhning‐Gaese, Katrin; Tschapka, Marco; Albrecht, Jörg
• Editors: Hughes, Alice
• Is Part Of: Diversity & distributions. Volume 27:Issue 12(2021)
• Page Start: 2344
• Page End: 2356
• Publication Date: 2021-09-04
• Subjects: biodiversity -- climate -- functional traits -- land use -- Mount Kilimanjaro; Biodiversity -- Periodicals; Biodiversity conservation -- Periodicals; 577
• DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13403
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1366-9516

Abstract

Abstract: Aim: The identification of the mechanisms determining spatial variation in biological diversity along elevational gradients is a central objective in ecology and biogeography. Here, we disentangle the direct and indirect effects of abiotic drivers (climatic conditions, and land use) and biotic drivers (vegetation structure and food resources) on functional diversity and composition of bird and bat assemblages along a tropical elevational gradient. Location: Southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, East Africa. Methods: We counted birds and recorded bat sonotypes on 58 plots distributed in near‐natural and anthropogenically modified habitats from 700 to 4, 600 m above sea level. For the recorded taxa, we compiled functional traits related to movement, foraging and body size from museum specimens and databases. Further, we recorded mean annual temperature, precipitation, vegetation complexity as well as the number of fruits, flowers, and insect biomass as measures of resource availability on each study site. Results: Using path analyses, we found similar responses of bird and bat functional diversity to the variation in abiotic and biotic drivers along the elevational gradient. In contrast, the functional composition of both taxa showed distinct responses to abiotic and biotic drivers. For both groups, direct temperature effects were most important, followed by resource availability, precipitation and vegetation complexity. Main Conclusions: Our findings indicate that physiological and metabolic constraints imposed by temperature and resource availability determine the functional diversity of bird and bat assemblages, whereas the composition of individual functional traits is driven by taxon‐specific processes. Our study illustrates that distinct filtering mechanisms can result in similar patterns of functional diversity along broad environmental gradients. Such differences need to be taken into account when it comes to conserving the functional diversity of flying vertebrates on tropical mountains.